Travel Guide for exploring the Outskirts of Doha - Backpack and Snorkel Qatar Purple Travel Guide
Today we will explore a museum with morwe than 15,000 artefacts, hitoric guard towers and take a dhow sunset cruise. We provide detailed information and the best things to see and we show lots of photos so you know what you can expect.
Today we are going even farther away from Doha and we are visiting places that are best reached with a rental car or by bus. Of course, you can go there by Uber or taxi, but it can take a while to get an Uber or taxi to pick you up this far out.
So, if you don’t mind driving, then we suggest renting a car. If you plan on using public transportation, then you may not be able to make it back to Doha in time for the last item on your list today, which is a Sunset Dhow Cruise.
1) Education City Mosque
2) Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum
3) Barzan Towers
4) Dhow Sunset Cruise at Box Park
Here at Backpack and Snorkel Travel Guides, we typically promote self-guided walking tours.
But we realize that not everybody likes to walk by themselves in a foreign city. So, just in case that you rather go with ab guide: NO PROBLEM! Please see the tours below.
Table of contents
Education City Mosque
Education City Mosque is an architectural gem and it has rightfully won the Best Religious Building prize at the World Architecture Festival in 2015.
If you have lots of time, then you can visit the mosque. If you are not a Muslim, then you need to come outside prayer times.
Otherwise, we will just make this a short stop and marvel at the beautiful exterior.
If you use public transportation, skip this stop.
Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum
Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum is a privately owned museum whose three buildings with 15 halls cover 5.7 mio sqft (530000 m2, 131 acres). It was opened in 1998 by Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani.
Because it is a private museum, you cannot use the One Pass that you used in the Doha museums.
All of the artifacts that you see in the museum were collected by Sheikh Faisal over a period of 50 years. They are grouped into these broad categories:
- Islamic art
- Vehicles
- Coins and currency
- Traditional Qatari artifacts
For me, this museum is one of the highlights of Qatar, but I need to admit that trying to see anything close to the 15,000 exhibits is exhausting. You should reserve at least 3-4h for the museum.
The museum has a small restaurant at the end, which you will likely need.
At the time of writing, admission is QAR 50 per adult and the opening times are:
Mondays - Thursdays: 9am – 5pm
Fridays: 2pm – 7pm
Saturdays: 10am – 6pm
Sundays: closed
Barzan Towers
Barzan Towers are also called Umm Salal Mohammed Fort Towers an Barzan means High Place in English and Umm Salal Mohammed is the town in which the towers are located.
The Barzan Towers were restored to what you see today in 2003.
Umm Salal Mohammed is a post-medieval (1600 - 1900 AD) village that was heavily developed in 1910. Local folktale describes the Barzan Towers as being used to observe incoming pearling ships off the coast. However, this is unlikely since the shore is too far to be seen (6 miles / 10 km away). Instead, the towers and the fort, that they were part of, likely guarded the villagers' source of drinking water and prosperity, the rawda (a stretch of greenery). The settlement's access to fresh water allowed it to sustain abundant gardens that grew fruits and vegetables. This included pomegranate and almond trees. Today, these gardens have all vanished, built over by urban developments. The Barzan Towers stand against the backdrop of this increasing trend of modernization, a resilient remnant of a bygone era.
The Western Barzan Tower we see today was built between 1910 and 1916 by the town's founder, Sheikh Mohammed bin Jassim Al Thani, possibly over an older tower.
It is three stories or 46 ft (14m) tall. Unique to Gulf architecture, the building's plan forms a distinctive T-shape. Its walls were built from limestone and cladded with a mud-based plaster.
The Eastern Barzan Tower was added after 1958. Its architecture is based on that of the western tower. It is almost the same height and was built from mixed stones, cladded with a gypsum-based plaster. It also features the western tower's rectangular shape but lacks the buttresses. Connecting the two buildings is an L-shaped pavilion, referred to as a majlis, that hosted gatherings. Along with the pavilion, there is a small masjid (mosque) that served primarily as a local prayer room. It was likewise used as a madrasa (school) for teaching children the Qu'ran.
The walls of the towers are 3.3 ft (1 m) thick at the bottom.
Admission is free and the opening times are:
Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays: 9am-5pm
Fridays: 12.30-5pm
We were there on a Monday and the entrance gate was closed. Luckily, some delivery people arrived and called a caretaker, who was inside the compound.
The caretaker was super friendly, but spoke almost no English. He let us explore the towers as long as we wanted. You can only explore the towers on the outside and you can go up the stairs, but you cannot go inside the towers or the house.
There was lots of heavy construction and rerouted traffic in this area when we were there and I am sure that this will go on for a few more years. This led to a situation that there was no parking, except at the mosque across the street from the main entrance of Barzan Towers, but there is a sign telling you that parking is only allowed for mosque business. The caretaker told us to park at the mosque anyway.
Dhow Sunset Cruise in Doha
A Dhow is the generic name for traditional sailing vessels, often with one or more masts. Dhows vary in their design by region, but they have in common that they were typically used as trading vessels, often to carry heavy cargo.
In Doha, you will see hundreds of Dhows moored in Dhow Harbor and along the Corniche.
There are multiple ways to do a Dhow Cruise. You can book a Dhow Cruise or go to Dhow Harbor and go to one of the Dhows that is offering cruises.
Most Dhow Cruises are offered during daylight hours and take 30 min. These cruises explore a comparably small part of Doha Bay, but offer good views of Doha’s skyline.
We really liked the 2h sunset cruise by National Cruise (book). It starts at Box Park, goes all the way to Arabia Island at The Pearl and then turns back. From the turning point at The Pearl, you can see the spot where you relaxed and viewed The Pearl’s Marina and Arabia Island, yesterday.
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